Global Investors Are Telling Donald Trump His Deficits and National…
Washington is unnerved these days about budget deficits and the national debt. Deficit angst comes along periodically, often as a pretext for cutting social spending. This time, however, there’s genuine cause for alarm. Outsized deficits are par for the course when the economy is in recession or reeling from a shock like the pandemic or the financial collapse; most of… Continue reading
An Economic Program for the Fall Campaign and the Next…
With the presidential election turning on the economy, the debate has focused on whats right or wrong with the current recovery, and whos responsible. They agree that growth is too slow and deficits are too high; and unsurprisingly, President Obama blames the GOP for both while Mr. Romney blames the President. The Presidents arguments are stronger, especially given Romneys risible…Continue reading
A Primer on the Eurozone Crisis and How It Could…
The economic viability of the Eurozone continues to slowly leech away. The latest iteration of the crisis originated again in Athens. Last week, voters there chose parties on the left and right that agreed on one thing: No more austerity, including measures already agreed to in exchange for another bailout this summer from the European Union (EU) and the International…Continue reading
A New Way to Boost Job Creation and Help Save…
U.S. growth slowed sharply in the spring of both 2010 and 2011; but it looks like this year, the economy may have shaken off its good-weather jinx. New home sales are up and foreclosures are down. Housing prices are still falling, but at a progressively slower rate which may signal that home prices are bottoming out. Businesses added only 130,000…Continue reading
Is the United States Really Facing Economic Decline?
A growing chorus of pundits and politicians, along with a few policy intellectuals, are pressing a new debate over whether the United States is in economic decline. The question is usually posed as a yes-or-no proposition, but the economic facts tell a more complicated story. The United States is experiencing an economic transition; and while that transition may actually make…Continue reading
The Costs of Overturning the Presidents Health Care Reforms
Partisan politics and constitutional principles received equal billing in this weeks showdown over health care at the Supreme Court. Much of the commentary tried to interpret the questions, gestures and tone of the Justices, in hopes of divining which party and vision of government will likely prevail. Such divinations are notoriously unreliable in such controversial cases. But whatever the Justices…Continue reading
A Modest Proposal to Help the U.S. Avoid an Economic…
The United States is headed for an economic version of a Wall Street triple witching hour. In finance, a triple witching house comes along four times a year, when options contracts on stocks, options contracts on stock indexes, and futures contracts of those indexes all expire at the same time on the same day. Washingtons own version will unfold at…Continue reading
Memo to American Conservatives: America Is NOT Greece
European leaders next week will sign off on another $172 billion bailout for Greece, one small step back from a disastrous debt default. When the deal is signed, brace yourself for a chorus of charges from President Obamas critics that his policies will make America the next Greece. These Chicken Littles are talking nonsense. They misunderstand Greeces real weaknesses and…Continue reading
The Economics and Politics of Inequality, Part 2 The Role…
Economic inequality is an important issue this year, because a growing number of Americans now see it as a threat to their living standards and aspirations. Mitt Romney and others say that envy, not facts, drives this debate. But the facts are too large and well-known to dismiss, starting with the astounding one that from 1976 to 2007, the share…Continue reading